Content Moderation Is Impossible: Facebook's Attempts To Block Mask Gouging Took Down DIY Face Mask Instructions
from the impossibility-theorem dept
Content moderation at scale is impossible to do well. The latest example? Facebook's rules to takedown content deemed to be people trying to price gouge medical supplies like face masks resulted in tutorials on how to make your own face masks being taken down:
Facebook’s systems threatened to ban the organizers of hand-sewn masks from posting or commenting, they said, landing them in what is colloquially known as “Facebook Jail.” They said it also threatened to delete the groups. The issue has affected do-it-yourself mask makers in states like Pennsylvania, Illinois and California, they said.
As the NY Times notes, Facebook, like most other social media sites, has been aggressively trying to block price gouging medical supplies:
At the top of its list were ads for masks, hand sanitizer and others looking to profit from the sale of safety equipment. Facebook banned advertising for such equipment last month, and has taken down nearly all posts related to the sale of masks across its Craigslist-like section, called Marketplace.
But as the company ramped up efforts to crack down on scammers and other miscreants, volunteer coordinators may have been caught in the crossfire.
“The automated systems we set up to prevent the sale of medical masks needed by health workers have inadvertently blocked some efforts to donate supplies,” Facebook said in a statement. “We apologize for this error and are working to update our systems to avoid mistakes like this going forward. We don’t want to put obstacles in the way of people doing a good thing.”
This is not an attack on Facebook, but, once again, it's important to recognize just how impossible it is to do these things well, especially at scale, and especially in the midst of a pandemic where things are changing daily. With the US only changing its recommendations on face masks last week, demand for any kind of face mask, including homemade ones, has sky-rocketed. And if you trying to build systems that are trained to look out for posts "advertising" things having to do with face masks -- which was important in the first few weeks of the pandemic -- they're inevitably going to lead to false positives flagging those who are actually trying to help.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: content moderation, content moderation at scale, covid-19, diy, facemasks, hoarding, masnick's impossibility theorem, price gouging
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
No matter how many times you tell them, and no matter how much evidence you provide, it appears that some people still are heavily invested in denying reality.
Hmm, does this comment go here, or under the article about hospitals firing people for talking about PPE shortages, or under the Jon Cusack article, or under the Navy article, or . . . .
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Why would they ban that in general? Not all "profit from the sale of safety equipment" would be gouging (almost all safety equipment is made by for-profit companies). Many people desperately need money, and letting them sell it for what they paid would be better than letting it sit on their shelf forever.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
They Have Too Much Power
If they cannot be trusted to exercise that power responsibly, then it must be taken away from them.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
Because the demand already well outstrips the supply for priority users and buyers it suggests those who have to advertise on Facebook are less than honest.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: They Have Too Much Power
And just who do you trust to exercise even greater power by setting the rules for social media sites? Governments have a terrible history when and where they gain control over speech.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Governments have a terrible history
I don’t know about you, but we over here live in a democracy, where the Government is answerable to the voters. We have a system called “checks and balances”, to try to ensure that those who wield the power on our behalf are actually answerable to us in some form.
It certainly beats allowing large, faceless, amoral megacorporations to run your society.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
... So let's give that power to someone with even more!
The first amendment would like to have a word with you, and I'm still waiting for you to post what regulations you think should be applied that would solve this or any other similar moderation issue.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Hmm. Facebook does a crappy job of moderation. Therefore, its impossible to do a good job of moderation at scale. What could possibly be the flaw in that logic?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Governments have a terrible history
Assuming that you are in the US, you are in a country where regulatory authorities have been captured and do the bidding of industry, rather than protect the consumers, due to a failure of checks and balances.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: They Have Too Much Power
"If they cannot be trusted to exercise that power responsibly, then it must be taken away from them."
How does this work, exactly?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
Perhaps the flaw is in your lack of data.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
Simple, Facebook wasn't making money off those ads.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Governments have a terrible history
Love thus post but you forgot the sarcasm tags.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
It is the age old problem of quick management decisions that are simplistic tend to have foreseen repercussions if anybody in the decision making loop actually bothered to foresee anything.
QA: Lets do a Pareto Analysis before committing
Management: That will take time and we need to be decisive. (Makes decisions)
Real World: (Shctuff hits fan)
Management: Why didn't you warn us?
QA: (makes sure management signed paperwork)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Pollution control at scale is like, really hard and stuff. We should disband the EPA to protect scrappy growth hacking oil extraction startups.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Assuming that you are in the US
No, I am not. Like I said, I live in a democracy.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: They Have Too Much Power
Regulations, but they never seem to be willing to get any more detailed than 'something must be done!'
[ link to this | view in thread ]
So...if you make cloth masks and want to sell them cheap....you STILL CAN'T do that because Facebook has blanketed Marketplace with a ban on anything Face, Mask, or Covering related
[ link to this | view in thread ]